Les berceaux

*Les Berceaux* centers on the committed sailors who set out into the ocean’s depths and the women who remain behind, waiting for their return. A woman sits in her living room, gently rocking her baby’s cradle while singing, the motion echoing the ebb and flow of ocean waves. Many of the men will die at sea, but the contrast between death and the new life in the cradle suggests a continuous and dignified cycle. Kirsanoff creatively uses a rear-projection screen outside the woman’s window, allowing the viewer to see the ocean waves gently touching the shore or a ship moving powerfully across the water as she sings. The film was photographed by Boris Kaufman, who later worked on *On the Waterfront* (1954) and *12 Angry Men* (1957).